Breaking in the new ride.

Wednesday was looking like a great day for sailing locally, except for the rain. Fortunately I got the call that my new stick was in at Ride Hatteras waiting for me to take delivery. The forecast was even better down there so it was a no brainer to make a run down to Hatteras Island. Billy called Tuesday and told me to come on down stay the night and we would hit the shop in the morning then sail the rest of the day. Bob posted that he would be down in Rodanthe and sailing at his place. Everything was falling in place for a perfect day. I picked up the new board, a sweet 84l Cross II around 11:00 and were on the water in Rodanthe by noon. I sized up the straps, finned the board and rigged a 4.1 for the 30mph winds.

After the first two runs I was in love the board. It was smooth and fast. I couldn't resist launching it off the first nice ramp less than 2 minutes of it getting wet. Once I had the sail dialed in I played with the mast base position, first in the forward position then in the middle. The middle brought a little more speed and maneuverability.

I was trying to jump the board off every decent ramp I could find. I locked it out on a blistering beam reach and never felt the slightest bit out of control. I attempted numerous jibes and tacks but was only successful on a few of the jibes. The board is really short so tacking it is definitely going to take lots of practice. Finally I worked the board on the little bit of breaking wind swell we had to test it's maneuverability. The thing turns awesome and snaps right around when you want it to. All in all it is exactly what I need for high wind bump conditions and I think it will serve me well once I get out into the surf.

The rest of the crew was out on anything from 4.8 to 4.0 and 100 to 76l boards. We had Paul from DC show up, Wayne, Billy, Rob, Carl, Vito and of course Dr. Bob. We all sailed about four hours straight in December and the only cold we felt was the post session beer. Sorry Wayne, stole your line. I don't think the day could have been any better.... How often do you get a new ride and have perfect conditions to break it in the same day!

Additional photos Click here.

Billy

Paul

Carl, Duck Jibing

Billy getting air

Rob lifting off

Carl

Bob

Wayne mid flight

Vito getting ready to join the fun

Vito

Bob preparing to touchdown

A couple rare shots of me (thanks Bob)

Paul

Billy

Calling it a day